List of operatic contraltos
The American contralto Marian Anderson who made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera.[1]
The contralto voice in opera and classical music has a range which typically lies between the F below middle C (F3) to two Fs above middle C (F5). In the lower and upper extremes, some contralto voices can sing from the E below middle C (E3) to two B♭s above middle C (B♭5).[2] The contralto voice has the lowest tessitura of the female voices and is noted for its rich and deep vocal timbre.[3] True operatic contraltos are very rare.[4] The following is a list of contralto singers who have regularly performed unamplified classical or operatic music in concert halls and/or opera houses.[5]
A–L
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The celebrated Italian-born contralto, Marietta Alboni, who made her La Scala debut as Neocle in the Italian version of Le siège de Corinthe.[6]
- Eunice Alberts (1927-2012)
- Marietta Alboni (1826–1894)
- Marian Anderson (1897–1993)
- Fanny Anitùa (1887–1969)
- Cecil Arden (1894–1989)
- Eula Beal (1919–2008)[7]
- Marianne Brandt (1842–1921)[8]
- Karin Branzell (1891–1974)[9]
- Muriel Brunskill (1899–1980)[10]
- Clara Butt (1872–1936)
- Lili Chookasian (1921-2012)[8]
- Belle Cole (1845–1905)[11]
- Kate Condon (1877–1941)
- Clorinda Corradi (1804–1877)[12]
- Kathleen Ferrier (1912–1953)
- Maureen Forrester (1930–2010)[13]
- Anna Girò (b circa 1710/1711;d 1748 or later)[14]
- Louise Homer (1871–1947)
- Jenny Twitchell Kempton (1835 - 1921)[15]
- Gisela Litz (born 1922)[16]
- Louise Kirkby Lunn (1873–1930)[17]
- Marie-Nicole Lemieux (born 1975)[18]
- Anna Larsson (born 1966)
- Delphine Galou (born 1977)
M–Z
The celebrated Austrian-born contralto, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, who made her operatic debut as Azucena in Il trovatore.[19]
- Adelaide Malanotte (1785–1832)[20]
- Bernadette Manca di Nissa (born 1954)
- Marietta Marcolini (c. 1780 – date of death unknown)[20]
- Margaret Matzenauer (1881–1963), who sang mostly mezzo-soprano roles though[20]
- Antonia Merighi (died 1764)[20]
- Sara Mingardo (born 1961)
- Sigrid Onégin (1889–1943)[21]
- Rosmunda Pisaroni (1793–1872)[20]
- Ewa Podleś (born 1952)
- Marie Powers (1902–1973)[22]
- Maria Radner (1981—2015)
- Sonia Prina (born 1975)
- Geltrude Righetti (1793–1862)
- Anastasia Robinson (c. 1692–1755)[23]
- Sofia Scalchi (1850–1922)
- Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861–1936)
- Annice Sidwells (1902–2001)
- Monica Sinclair (1925–2002)
- Nathalie Stutzmann (born 1965)[24]
- Hilary Summers
- Vittoria Tesi (1700–1775)
- Kerstin Thorborg (1896–1970)
- Claramae Turner (1920-2013)
- Francesca Vanini-Boschi (date of birth unknown – 1744)[20]
- Lucia Elizabeth Vestris (1797–1856)[25]
- Helen Watts (1927–2009)[26]
- Marta Wittkowska (1882–1977)
See also
References
Notes
- ↑ Jones
- ↑ McKinney (1994)
- ↑ Appelman (1986)
- ↑ Meyers (1996)
- ↑ Unless otherwise indicated all names on this list appear in either Jander et al. or Meyers (1996)
- ↑ (Italian) Arthur Pougin, Marietta Alboni, p. 26. Cesena, Il Ponte Vecchio, 2001. ISBN 88-8312-178-3
- ↑ San Francisco Chronicle, "Garnett, Eula Beal", 3 August 2008
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Hall (2002) p. 725
- ↑ Hall (2002) p. 1093
- ↑ The Musical Times,, "Muriel Brunskill", Vol. 121, No. 1646 (Apr., 1980), p. 267
- ↑ The New York Times, "Death of Belle Cole", 6 January 1905, p. 9
- ↑ Rutherford (2006) p. 175
- ↑ The Canadian Encyclopedia, "Forrester, Maureen"
- ↑ Talbot, Michael, Girò [Tessieri], Anna (Maddalena), in Sadie, Stanley (ed), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (II, p. 433). New York, Grove (Oxford University Press), 1997. ISBN 978-0-19-522186-2
- ↑ "Famous Singer of Olden Days was San Francisco Discovery". The San Francisco Chronicle, 20 March 1921. p 4.
- ↑ Ericson, Raymond, "Lortzing's Operas Do Not Travel Too Well", The New York Times, 16 August 1964
- ↑ Hall (2002) p. 473
- ↑ So, Joseph, "Quebec Contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux Makes a Brilliant Ontario Debut", La Scena Musicale, 30 July 2001
- ↑ Shawe-Taylor, Desmond, "Schumann-Heink Ernestine", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy. Accessed 4 November 2009 via subscription)
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 Celletti (2000), chapter: Requiem per il contralto, pp. 236–245
- ↑ Shawe-Taylor, Desmond, "Onégin, Sigrid", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy. Accessed 4 November 2009 via subscription)
- ↑ Time, "Contralto on Broadway", 30 June 1947
- ↑ Dean, Winton, "Robinson, Anastasia", in Stanley Sadie|Sadie, Stanley (ed), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (III, pp. 1360–1361). New York, Grove (Oxford University Press), 1997. ISBN 978-0-19-522186-2.
- ↑ "Nathalie Stutzmann : une voix en or", La Dépêche du Midi, 14 October 2009
- ↑ Entry: Vestris [née Bartolozzi] Lucia Elizabeth [Eliza Lucy], in Sadie, S. (ed), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (IV, pp. 979–980). New York, Grove (Oxford University Press), 1997. ISBN 978-0-19-522186-2
- ↑ Steane, John, "Obituary: Helen Watts, contralto", Gramophone, 23 October 2009
Sources
- Appelman, D. Ralph (1986). The Science of Vocal Pedagogy: Theory and Application. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-20378-6.
- (Italian) Celletti, R. (2000). La grana della voce. Opere, direttori e cantanti (2nd edition). Roma, Baldini & Castoldi. ISBN 88-8089-781-0
- Hall, Charles, J., Chronology of Western Classical Music: 1751-1900, Taylor & Francis, 2002. ISBN 0-415-94216-0
- Jander, Owen; Steane, J. B.; Forbes, Elizabeth; Harris, Ellen T., "Contralto", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy. Accessed 4 November 2009 via subscription)
- Jones, Randye. "Afrocentric Voices: Marian Anderson Biography". AfroVoices.com. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
- McKinney, James (1994). The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults. Genovex Music Group. ISBN 978-1-56593-940-0.
- Myers, Eric, "Sweet and Low: the Case of the Vanishing Contralto", Opera News, Vol. LXI, December 1996, pp. 18–21
- Rutherford, Susan, The prima donna and opera, 1815-1930, Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-521-85167-X